Net Neutrality Lost at the FCC: What's Next for Gear?
Well, Net Neutrality lost.
But SonicGear is still here...so what's going on! Didn't you say.......
(Site notes at the bottom)
Well, what it means is that the danger has started. As you remember, there was no NN law before 2015. A different agency, the FTC or so, was in charge at that point. There was no big rule to stop monopolies (the ISPs) from doing 'considered bad things'. However, they DID have the power to sue or make a lot of trouble for ISPs who did 'things that are considered bad by everyone but the ISP and share holder'. What did that include?
Blocking Facetime because they had a competing service
Making Netflix not work/load so slow it barely works because you should watch cable instead
Blocking Skype because you're not paying extra to use it
This list goes on and on.
Each time somebody had to stop them before NN appeared in 2015. So, you can see how the previous rules 'didn't hold up the sky' for all us small website & normal consumers, but they DID act like a nebulous floating ban-hammer that could crash down if a ISP stepped out of line and got unfair. So what's different now is that the 'hold up the sky' is gone & basically any ISP is free to do anything bad that it wants to.
So why didn't they?
They seem to be playing 'boil the frog'. Everyone's REALLY aware that they've basically unleashed the beasts. However, if you wait and you chip away the good stuff slowly, as you were heating the water to boil the frog slowly...maybe he won't hop out and you'll get to boil him in the end. That's what they're hoping: all the zany political stuff and big crisis of the day will have everybody forgetting to act up. Then suddenly it's 5 bucks to look at your Facebook.
What This Means Now:
Things continue as usual but under the looming storm cloud. They sure as hell didn't spend all that money to get rid of the rules in order to then continue to obey them. What it also means: Senators & states themselves are fighting back. Lawsuits are opened, and everybody who wrote, called, tweeted, petitioned, protested & whatever else IT WORKED. Those voices got heard and now is when they are mattering as well as before. It basically built up ammo for these law suits and other things to try and wreck the bad decision or get some other rule placed that'll do the same thing.
Want to read up?
Own an Etsy, Ecrater or do you shop there? How about ebay? Indie seller? This article is good for you.
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2017/12/15/small-e-retailers-could-be-hurt-by-the-end-of-net-neutrality/?utm_source=IRN&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=IRN-2017
If these guys don't succeed, you can likely expect Gear to barely work after about a year from now.
They're going to take at least a year to begin to boil the frog. Other bigger stuff like video sites will get hit first. But photo sites are on the chopping list too. It'll go into the slow lane, because (of course) can't pay, and then if dystopia continues nobody will look at Gear (too hard to load) and it'll just go away for good because the point is people visiting it.
If they DO succeed:
The Sonic merchandise party will continue forever! If there's some specific action to take, when the time comes, it'll go on the blog right here. Because the readers who saw this did take action & it was heard, and it's being used right now to help. So thanks!
Week's notes:
It appears to be some kind of bootleg bonanza. I'm not sure what's causing all the fakery all of a sudden. Sure some of it is wacky ex: curly creep, but we need real cool merch to inspect and collect as well
Item of the Week:
Glittery Mystery Sweatshirt. Glitter is fun! Why wasn't anything else ever this glittery? It seems like an obvious option to spruce up your tees or whatever.
Next week:
Don't know. But next week will exist and that's pretty important.
But SonicGear is still here...so what's going on! Didn't you say.......
(Site notes at the bottom)
Well, what it means is that the danger has started. As you remember, there was no NN law before 2015. A different agency, the FTC or so, was in charge at that point. There was no big rule to stop monopolies (the ISPs) from doing 'considered bad things'. However, they DID have the power to sue or make a lot of trouble for ISPs who did 'things that are considered bad by everyone but the ISP and share holder'. What did that include?
Blocking Facetime because they had a competing service
Making Netflix not work/load so slow it barely works because you should watch cable instead
Blocking Skype because you're not paying extra to use it
This list goes on and on.
Each time somebody had to stop them before NN appeared in 2015. So, you can see how the previous rules 'didn't hold up the sky' for all us small website & normal consumers, but they DID act like a nebulous floating ban-hammer that could crash down if a ISP stepped out of line and got unfair. So what's different now is that the 'hold up the sky' is gone & basically any ISP is free to do anything bad that it wants to.
So why didn't they?
They seem to be playing 'boil the frog'. Everyone's REALLY aware that they've basically unleashed the beasts. However, if you wait and you chip away the good stuff slowly, as you were heating the water to boil the frog slowly...maybe he won't hop out and you'll get to boil him in the end. That's what they're hoping: all the zany political stuff and big crisis of the day will have everybody forgetting to act up. Then suddenly it's 5 bucks to look at your Facebook.
What This Means Now:
Things continue as usual but under the looming storm cloud. They sure as hell didn't spend all that money to get rid of the rules in order to then continue to obey them. What it also means: Senators & states themselves are fighting back. Lawsuits are opened, and everybody who wrote, called, tweeted, petitioned, protested & whatever else IT WORKED. Those voices got heard and now is when they are mattering as well as before. It basically built up ammo for these law suits and other things to try and wreck the bad decision or get some other rule placed that'll do the same thing.
Want to read up?
Own an Etsy, Ecrater or do you shop there? How about ebay? Indie seller? This article is good for you.
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2017/12/15/small-e-retailers-could-be-hurt-by-the-end-of-net-neutrality/?utm_source=IRN&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=IRN-2017
If these guys don't succeed, you can likely expect Gear to barely work after about a year from now.
They're going to take at least a year to begin to boil the frog. Other bigger stuff like video sites will get hit first. But photo sites are on the chopping list too. It'll go into the slow lane, because (of course) can't pay, and then if dystopia continues nobody will look at Gear (too hard to load) and it'll just go away for good because the point is people visiting it.
If they DO succeed:
The Sonic merchandise party will continue forever! If there's some specific action to take, when the time comes, it'll go on the blog right here. Because the readers who saw this did take action & it was heard, and it's being used right now to help. So thanks!
Week's notes:
It appears to be some kind of bootleg bonanza. I'm not sure what's causing all the fakery all of a sudden. Sure some of it is wacky ex: curly creep, but we need real cool merch to inspect and collect as well
Item of the Week:
Glittery Mystery Sweatshirt. Glitter is fun! Why wasn't anything else ever this glittery? It seems like an obvious option to spruce up your tees or whatever.
Next week:
Don't know. But next week will exist and that's pretty important.
posted by AzureBlaze at 12:25 PM
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